Doomsday

Here in Kentucky, we appear to be on the verge of electing a Democratic governor.
We accept your condolences.
Four years ago, Kentucky took one small step forward out of the dark ages and elected Ernie Fletcher, a rising political star in the commonwealth.
It appeared to be part of a nationwide pattern, progressing toward a rational, business-friendly, consumer-friendly Republican paradise.
Once again, we seem to be part of a pattern, regressing toward big government and a tax ceiling higher than the starry host above.
The Democratic machine, after forty years in the governor's mansion, still had its claws dug into every other facet of our state's government, and refused to let go.
Their water boy, Greg Stumbo, the Democratic state AG, trumped up a host of discriminatory hiring charges against the Fletcher administration, and Fletcher spent almost the entirety of his term distracted by a created scandal. At the very worst, and with a liberal dose of fantasy added, Fletcher's hiring practices could be construed as unethical, but it is a painful stretch.
More realistically, it was a small act of retribution against forty years of constrictive Democratic cronyism. Additionally, it was a measure of expediency by Fletcher. He admittedly may have been trying to weed out Democrats in state offices to accelerate his agenda. To which I wished him the best.
This state is notorious for being unfriendly to big business and even more hostile toward the tax-payer. The overall tax rate in Lexington, the second largest city in the state, ranks third or fourth in the nation. From the top, not the bottom. The uncomfortable business environment has led to a mass exodus of the state's biggest business, horses, to states like Florida where they inexplicably believe that business is good for the economy.
The Democrats answer to this is that we must keep up with the times and our neighboring state of Indiana by voting in casinos.
Whether you eschew gambling or not, the support business systems brought in by casinos are somewhere between eighty and ninety percent organized crime.
Yeah, that's good for a party who is pledging to bring back ethics to Frankfort after that deviant Republican's merit hiring scandal.
I always feel a surge of hysteria rising to the surface when I hear Democrats talk about honesty.
Not to mention another big lie they sold when they brought in the powerball lottery.
They promised to shovel a big portion of the "stupid tax" (appropriately so called because the lottery is a tax for people who can't do math) into the education coffers. For the children, you know.
It may come as no surprise that they have not in fact, funded education with the stupid tax as they pledged to do, and would it have helped if they did? Why do we always assume that throwing money at kids will make little light bulbs come on in their eager little heads?
The polls show the Democratic challenger, Steve Beshear, with a fifteen to twenty-four point lead over the incumbent.
I am tempted to indulge in a little irrational exuberance (little Alan Greenspan lingo there) at the news of the statewide school poll. Schoolchildren have re-elected Fletcher by a margin of 54 to 46.
But there's a demographic caveat. Children obviously take their cue from parents, and parents will always prove to be a more conservative voting bloc than singles, college students, or, dare I say it, homosexuals. And that last voting bloc is nothing to sneeze at, with Lexington, once again a topper of dubious lists, the host to one the largest concentrated homosexual populations in the country.
The point is, voters don't care about anything important. They are fickle, astonishingly non-thinking, and apathetic.
Who care about the horses, bring on the casinos.